FAQs

What formats do Sample Magic offer?

All Sample Magic libraries are supplied as industry-standard 44.1kHz/24-bit Wavs. Most of our libraries are also offered Ableton ready, as Apple Loops, Rex2 and Stylus-RMX ready formats, with patches for a range of samplers, including Kontakt, Logic's EXS24, HALion, Reason's NN-XT and more. Many of our libraries are supplied as specially programmed Reason ReFills. And we also sell a range of synth presets for Lennar Digital's Sylenth, Native Instruments Massive and Xfer's Serum. Our sounds are designed to be as versatile as possible to allow them to be used as quickly and creatively as possible. All format information is contained in the 'Product Information' box on each product page.

What is SM Sounds?

Sample Magic offer an exclusively curated list of sound design and sample pack companies that we support for sale on our site. These high quality providers offer the same standard that Sample Magic is known for and are identified under the label dropdown menu or chart.

What do I do if I have trouble downloading or unzipping my purchase?

Some of our products are quite large in file size and may take some time to download on a slower internet connection. In the case that you have used up all 5 of your downloads and your download is incomplete please don't hesitate to contact us and we will add more downloads to your account. In the case of an unzipping error this generally has to do with an incomplete download or in the case of Windows users, we recommend Winzip as a reliable unzipping software.

What exactly am I actually buying?

When you buy a Sample Magic library you are NOT obtaining OWNERSHIP of the sounds - you are in fact purchasing a LICENSE to use the sounds within your musical compositions, whether or not your compositions are released commercially. The license is non-transferable, so if you are using an illegal copy of the product, you are not authorised to use the sounds. The original producer of the sounds will always remain the OWNER of the sounds.

How do I authorise my Plug-In purchase?

Your authorisation details can be found under My Account and the My Plug-ins tab. At the top of the page you can find your username and below that the specific serials for any plug-ins that you have purchased.

How do I redeem a discount code on the website?

Add the product to your cart and at the checkout window on the bottom right-hand corner there will be a box for discount codes. Please carefully enter the discount code exactly as you received it and your cart transaction will be discounted accordingly. If you've bought your plug-in from a distributor this will bring your total order value down to 0.

Do I have to download all formats or can I choose the format I use?

You don't have to download every format. Where different format options are available each format is supplied in a different zip file. Just download the zips you need.

What is Click & Mix?

Click & Mix lets you buy individual folders from any Sample Magic or Sample Magic Presents library so you only get the sounds you want, and not those you don't. Libraries are typically broken down in to folders of Drums, Tops, Bass, Synth, Music, FX and Drum Hits. You can purchase single or multiple folders from any release or mix and match folders from numerous releases to create your own custom library wherever you see the Click & Mix logo.

What payment options do you accept?

We offer SECURE online shopping powered by Sagepay and supporting all major credit and debit cards including VISA, Switch and Mastercard. We also accept PayPal.

I represent a music college. Can we get a discount for buying multiple copies of your book/s?

We do indeed offer bulk discounts to educational colleges. Please get in touch with us and we will give you some price indications.

Are your books or Apps available in any language except English?

Not presently. But we are working on this in the future.

I have bought one of your sample libraries and want to buy another. How well will the sounds work together?

We go to a lot of effort to ensure loops work well together across releases. Unlike some sample developers that throw together a load of sounds in random tempo groups, we take care to keep tempo groupings similar across titles so that, for example, a house producer can find 125bpm drum loops in a variety of different genre collections. We also keep our naming conventions uniform so that you always know where you are and what you’re dealing with.

How can I use the sounds?

You may use the sounds in combination with other sounds within your musical compositions. You may release such compositions commercially without payment of any further fees or royalties for such usage. For example, if you are the original purchaser of Funky House Grooves and you used sounds from it to create the soundtrack of a television commercial, simply by combining a drum loop sample with a guitar loop sample, and the TV advert was broadcast hundreds of times, you would keep all the royalties that the advert earns you, because you already purchased a private license to use the sounds commercially. You cannot use the sounds in isolation (i.e. when not within musical compositions) as part of a commercially released project - for instance you cannot use the sounds to make another sample product. Please do not use our product demos as part of your track as they can often contain elements of other libraries and are therefore excluded for use as part of a pack purchase.

Can I use your sounds to make library / production music?

Absolutely. Just as long as you follow the guidelines above - i.e. you use the sounds within your own compositions - that's fine. Our samples are there to be used!

Who else can use the sounds I have purchased?

Only the ORIGINAL PURCHASER of the product has the right to use the sounds commercially. This means that you CANNOT SELL or give the sounds to anyone else. If you do, and they use the sounds within a commercial release, they will have to pay royalties to Sample Magic for using the sounds.

Can I use my plugin purchase on more than one machine

Absolutely. Please contact us with proof of purchase using the means of contact listed above and we will take the necessary steps to ensure your software will work on any machine of your choice

What if a school, college, studio or other institution purchases a digital or physical sample library?

The licence covers the release of original tracks using the sounds and produced by the establishment or studio name - individual names can be added. If an individual within the organisation wishes to use the sounds as produced under his own name, that person must purchase another copy in order to obtain a licence agreement.

I'm a sample producer - do you ever hire new producers?

We are always pleased to hear from top-class sound designers and sample producers. We pay well for the right material and we're a young, friendly and exciting company to work with. Contact us here if you've got what it takes...

I uploaded a track that uses your sounds to YouTube and YouTube says there's a Content ID Claim on my track, or that someone else owns the copyright. What do I do?

YouTube’s Content ID matching works by finger-printing a piece of sound, video and/or music and storing it in a huge database. Every time a video is uploaded to YouTube, that database is scanned to check if that piece of sound, video and/or music has already been uploaded to YouTube and if so, who the rights holder is and how they control their content.

Sometimes, an artist, producer or musician will use our sounds in their track, and then commercially release the track, which includes uploading to YouTube and claiming the copyright on that track. While they own the copyright on the composition itself, when you use Sample Magic’s sounds in your track, you are licensing the sound from us, you do not buy ownership – this is outlined in our Licensing agreement. That means that you cannot claim ownership of our sounds or loops on YouTube, even if it used within a track that you do own.

Often, it is a digital distributor who registers the rights holder of a track when the track is being released, and not the original artist, musician or producer and therefore, they are not aware of the problem or terms violation, so this problem can be complicated.

There are two solutions:

YouTube allows users to remove a part of the Content ID reference file. Rights holders must upload the original sound or loop from our pack to remove it from the Content ID database. This way, YouTube will use a part of their music that doesn’t use our sound or loop as the reference, so they will still be able to claim copyright if anyone else uploads that song. This is the responsibility of the rights holder and can be done on this URL: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/4588501?hl=en-GB

Alternatively, those who have had their music flagged by YouTube’s Content ID matching system can dispute the claim. If you need more information on how to dispute a claim, please visit this website.

Unfortunately, given the large size of our back catalogue, and the tens of thousands of tracks that have been made using our sounds, we cannot assist you in any Content ID issues.

I’ve got a question you haven’t answered!

No problem. Just contact us and one of the team will get back to you ASAP – usually the same day and usually within an hour or two. Ask us anything – except why we’re not making bog-standard samples!

Sample Magic is the world's leading provider of pro-audio
loops and samples to music producers across a range of
genres, from house and electro through dubstep to disco
to chillout and soundtrack.